Frankly I'm glad that Lerner blew off Issa's charade. Let them fish somewhere else. Isn't that what it's about? Fishing. President Obama must be at the root of all these debacles, and Issa will keep looking anywhere and everywhere until he gets there. One wonders whether the next three and a half years are going to be full of these political shenanigans.

The IRS has admitted wrongdoing, and the head of the key IRS division has taken the fifth to avoid incriminating herself.........yet you call this a fishing expedition? How much more do you need before you there can be any small crack in the wooden defense of this administration? It seems pictures of the President rogering a goat could be published and you would point to the promiscuous past of the capra hircus. Nothing that happens on his watch is his fault, yet everything that happened on Bush's watch was, as still is blamed on him.

Yeah, they're fishing for everything but what we really need. There are so many important issues for Congress to address, but sadly Republicans are zoning in on political scandals hoping they can blow everything out of proportion and ultimately stick the blame for everything on President Obama and his administration. I'm not buying into all the hype. Listening to a bunch of losers like Issa and his ragtag group of Republican clowns acting so pissed off trying to shake everyone down in an effort to wring something out of nothing is a poor show. Just watch them overreach and blow things badly.

Bard, it's the IRS. You know, the most hated agency in government, so nobody can give the impression that they are soft on the scene or anybody supposedly even remotely involved. What are we really talking about? Extra scrutiny and some difficulties for tea party folks trying to set up tax free organizations in this Citizen United world where money can buy and influence elections. Add to that a cloak of invisibility for the financial contributors. Where's the transparency? Frankly, I think close review is warranted on this issue regardless of the political leanings of the organization.

Lastly, I'll mention it again because it really gets under my skin. In the process of interviewing witnesses, the attitude and conduct of Republicans in particular has been totally outrageous. Where's the value and justice in abusing and treating those that are summoned to appear in front of this committee like they are guilty of horrible crimes against America? Aren't folks presumed to be innocent until proven guilty with the facts? It's a specious show playing to a blood thirsty audience while they fish for facts. No doubt, ugly politics at its worst. I expect much better conduct and respect in the process, but seemingly folks like yourself, mrgybe and NW30 don't. You folks are praying that President Obama and his administration are found responsible and culpable. If the means to that end is underhanded and ugly, it's not a problem in your world.

CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said that a cybersecurity firm hired by CBS News "has determined through forensic analysis" that "Attkisson's computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012."

"Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson's accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data. This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion. CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access."

Several months ago, Attkisson had reported suspected intrusions of her computers, including her CBS News work computer, prompting CBS News to hire a firm to look into the hacking.

Friday's announcement comes on the heels of last month's revelation that the Justice Department had seized the emails and phone records of Fox News correspondent James Rosen.

To be clear, the federal government has not been accused in the intrusion of Attkisson's computer; CBS News is continuing to work to identify the responsible party.

CBS News said Friday that it has confirmed a computer used by one of its Washington reporters, Sharyl Attkisson, was breached by an unknown intruder and that the hack appeared to be “sophisticated.”

The intrusions were detected in December while Attkisson was reporting almost exclusively on the government’s response to the terrorist attacks on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. The attack on Sept. 11, 2012, killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens. Attkisson has previously investigated the Justice Department’s gun-tracking operation known as “Fast and Furious.”

In a statement Friday, CBS did not identify a culprit. It said Attkisson’s computer “was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012.”

It added: “Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and [removal] of data. This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion.”

Attkisson said she noticed unusual activity in her CBS-issued laptop and her home computer, such as dormant computers spontaneously “waking up” at odd hours. The unusual activity, which also included disruptions on her home phone line, predate the December 2012 breach that CBS confirmed.

She said in an interview Friday that she was “outraged” by the breach, which did not appear to be aimed at extracting personal financial information.

“This wasn’t any ordinary malware of a phishing attempt,” that is, an effort to gain personal information, she said. “I assume someone wanted to see what I was working on.

“The privacy and security of every American citizen in his own home, not to mention the work of a journalist, is sacrosanct. The idea that an unknown party could come into your home electronically is upsetting and disturbing. . . . People should be disturbed that a reporter would be spied on and intimidated this way. I do feel that this was an attempt to make me feel intimidated.”

Attkisson said she stopped using the computer and the TV network’s internal data system in January after the security firm hired by CBS began looking into it.

CBS said it is still trying to identify “the responsible party and their method of access.”

The Tea Party folks still got their exemptions, though no one doubts that they are a wholly political organization and many wholly social welfare groups did not.
My school is one of them. We have no army of lawyers and politicians warping the law for us.
I liked the Tea Party before it became the most extreme arm of the GOP.
It once had very high bipartisan ideals.

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